


burn

by wildcard0



Category: Persona 5
Genre: Persona 5: The Royal Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-04 05:14:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 630
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24868192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wildcard0/pseuds/wildcard0
Summary: There was an uncomfortable comfort in their parallel.
Relationships: Akechi Goro & Kitagawa Yusuke
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	burn

It was sometime during the casino that the two men had found a little bit too much of themselves in each other.

For one, it was like looking into a mirror, but the reflection was shattered and there was blood seeping through the cracks. It was meeting the eyes of a what-if, a version of himself that was shut down as quickly as it was birthed from between his ribs, teeth bared and fingers latched around his neck.

For the other, it was another body to sink his talons into and rip out a sort of kinship. It was another lie to tell himself, another way to feel a little less alone. The same wound inflicted by a different weapon.

The air was frigid now and the changing season deprived the trees of their life and turned them skeletal; at night the streets still carried crowds despite the biting cold, the city’s bodies bundled in layers and finding warmth with their arms wrapped ‘round loved ones that had returned to them. Their faces were contorted into unknowing smiles and laughter was never too far away.

It was all so warped and wrong.

They found each other once more beneath the moon, a leering eye that felt pervasive and wanting as it bore down upon them.

It was a wordless reunion and one followed by routine: they made their way to the shack, they pried its door open and relieved it of the stiffness brought by neglect, they walked inside (their coats would remain on; there was a dangerous promise somewhere in getting too comfortable), they rested their weary bodies against the rotting wood.

If the night called for it, and that night did, they would indulge themselves in bad habits. A cheap lighter meeting a cigarette, a lingering gaze that searched the other too deeply, hands that would, despite unspoken rules, reach out and grasp for an unfamiliar and raw sort of comfort. Things that could not be fairly reciprocated, but still they tried.

"This is sick," one would say, and the other wasn't sure if he meant the company kept or the world around them.

That pitiful world, so ignorant as it was rendered compliant while held in the palm of a man with motives so twistedly benevolent even the Thieves would doubt themselves at times. It was a play to be performed for an audience of one, and they were but two roles in a script written for many.

It made him angry and angrier when he realized that again he was to be under the control of someone who thought it ideal. Bent and manipulated and told it was for his sake, for who knew what was best for him but the ones who held the strings?

Dare he lose himself in his thoughts, the other would bring him back out with the burning end of the cigarette and thaw what had begun to chill him.

Sunken eyes, bones protruding beneath pale skin, a hollow smile; he looked more skeleton than boy lately.

When the time had come to say goodbye, they didn't. They parted as wordlessly as they had found each other and returned to empty rooms, empty beds.

That world eventually crumbled. He would again fold into himself and nurse the dark and empty pit that sat at his core, only ever finding a hint of understanding in one who was no longer there. It was a piece of himself not to be shared even with his dearest companions; it was his proof that despite it all, some of his wounds were never meant to mend.

So the sun would rise and set again, so life continued. So he would move forward, the echo of a burn still etched into his skin as a reminder.


End file.
